Maxin’, not relaxin’

The GIST: This Thursday, LOVB serves up its championship weekend, which will air on USA Sports for the first time. This will be the last chip featuring the league’s inaugural six teams as three expansion teams will be added next year, including LOVB San Francisco.

• This week, we had the opportunity to hear from members of the new team’s ownership group — Danielle Slaton, Chantell Preston, Arielle Chambers, Kate Johnson, and Stephanie Martin — about why they’re keen on bringing volleyball to the Bay in a whole new way. Dig it.

The location: According to LOVB SF’s owners, the Bay is an ideal place to launch a new franchise. Slaton highlighted that “every business across the globe has ties to the Bay Area,” while others cited its unique ecosystem rooted in rich community, and how its progressive mindset shapes fandom.

• Chambers said in her experience, “other women’s sports are trying to figure out how to get participation like volleyball” and noted strong D1, youth, and adult recreational volleyball interest in the Bay Area.

• Slaton noted how the Bay Area was voted the best women’s sports city, and Chambers said when she began posting about LOVB SF online, fans engaged immediately and dubbed themselves “Love Bugs.” This is similar to how the city’s WNBA and NWSL teams received warm welcomes before their inaugural seasons.

• Preston celebrated the region’s startup culture and ability to assess future value, saying it’s “ahead of the rest of the country” in women’s sports support because “it understands value before it becomes obvious.” Preston also suggested it’s the best place to build the future of sports because “there’s a natural alignment here around innovation, equity, and long-term thinking.”

The brand value: Previously, fellow LOVB SF owner Jes Wolfe told us she envisions LOVB SF games as a networking event, with Slaton echoing this is “part of the vision” for LOVB SF gamedays — especially for women business leaders. And owners are already signaling which categories should tap in: Johnson said she’s eager to form relationships with women’s health and med tech companies.

• Martin said other sectors should consider the opportunity with this primarily family-oriented audience of women: LOVB says its target fanbase is about 68% women. She said the club is “especially focused” on categories catering to everyday life – beauty, wellness, finance, tech, retail – where women are the primary decision-makers. Holding all the tickets.

The GIST: Nike netted a multiyear agreement with the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) and the Women’s Lacrosse League (WLL) yesterday as the official apparel partner of both leagues. This includes Nike-designed uniforms and sideline apparel, but doesn’t include cleats, a white space in the women’s lacrosse world — one that Caddix, a new USA Lacrosse partner, is busy filling.

• In March, we spoke with Caddix lacrosse director Suzy Emerson to learn how the cleat brand has created lab-tested, cutting-edge designs beloved by women and men in football, soccer, and especially lacrosse, where no other cleat designed for women exists. Let’s explore.

The brand: Founded in 2020, the cleat company creates football cleats for men, soccer cleats for women, and lax cleats for both. The patented tech in these cleats allows for better pivoting, reducing ACL injury risk. While Adidas and Ida Sports also have women-specific soccer cleats, no one else has a lacrosse cleat for women, which is why many WLL stars have bought in.

• Caddix is essentially letting the product speak for itself, doing a lot of “boots-on-the-ground” work spreading the word in youth markets by appearing at lacrosse events so athletes can try on their cleats.

The white space: Fortunately for Caddix, the Nike deal is non-exclusive with cleat brands, meaning WLL players will be able to continue sporting their Caddix cleats. This is important, because until recently, sports apparel giants largely ignored the concept of sports shoes designed for women — a gap that startups like Caddix, Ida Sports and Moolah Kicks have quickly filled.

• But bigger brands are responding, with Adidas dropping its first-ever soccer cleat designed for women last year, using prominent brand ambassador Trinity Rodman to shape and promote it. On Nike’s website, there’s only one lacrosse cleat available in men’s and women’s sizes — that could change after this deal.

Zooming out: Nike may have the bandwidth and relationships to institute a league-wide deal, but Caddix and its landmark deal with the sport’s governing body proves there’s opportunity for smaller, niche competitors to carve out space and build brand affinity, especially with the direct co-sign and approval of athletes themselves.

• And Lexie Hull recently shed light on why women athletes genuinely endorsing products matters: People trust them, and women love learning about new brands from their friends and role models. Like it, love it, gotta have it.